


Circle Back

by angelskuuipo



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Cordelia didn't die, F/M, Future Fic, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 17:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3818695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelskuuipo/pseuds/angelskuuipo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had their chance once and blew it, but years later they finally got it right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Circle Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Velvetwhip (Gabrielle)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabrielle/gifts).



> Disclaimer: The characters are not mine; never have been, never will be…damn it. The story, however, is.
> 
> Prompt: Cordelia/Xander, Graduation: Why didn't we try again?
> 
> Written for the Spring of Cordy LJ Community. Thank you, Gabrielle, for the prompt. I played with it a little bit, but I do hope you like it! Big thanks to Elisabeth for the beta. You ladies are the best!
> 
> Written: April 6, 2015  
> Word Count: 352

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Why didn’t we try again? After graduation?” Xander asked softly, his fingers tracing abstract patterns on Cordelia’s bare arm.

Her fingers flexed, nails lightly digging into his bare chest, and she placed a gentle kiss over his heart. “We were going different places,” she answered. “I know we both left, but I was going for good and you were always going to go back.” She tilted her head up and met his eye. “I was never going to come first with you in Sunnydale.”

Xander closed his eye. She was right, but that didn’t make hearing it any easier. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We both had a lot of growing up to do.”

He felt her lean up and he readily returned the kiss she pressed to his lips. When they parted, he could hear her smile as she said, “We wouldn’t be here now without all the in between, and I’m pretty darn happy with where we ended up.”

He smiled and opened his eye to look at her. They were both scarred and damaged and more than a little fucked up, but they were together now. He was strong where she was weak and vice versa. Their jagged edges fit together well enough that to the undiscerning eye they were whole.

After the hell they’d both lived through, they were going to hold onto what good they could with both hands. It might not be the healthiest way to live, to rely so heavily on another person to keep you together, but it worked for them.

Xander shifted and turned Cordelia onto her back. She went willingly and gave him a cheeky smile, the barest hint of her tongue caught between her teeth. It made her look so much like the girl he fell in love with all those years ago and he melted. Leaning down to kiss her, he murmured, “I’m pretty happy with where we ended up, too.”

Second chances were their stock in trade and this was theirs. The world might end at any moment, but as long as they had each other, they’d be just fine.

-30-


End file.
